SURE SHOT

TALENT — A Talent photographer who captures the offbeat moments of life and the splendor of nature will have his work displayed in the governor's office in Salem from Feb. 22 to May 8.

By Tony Boom

TALENT — A Talent photographer who captures the offbeat moments of life and the splendor of nature will have his work displayed in the governor's office in Salem from Feb. 22 to May 8.

David Lorenz Winston was nominated for the honor by Judy Howard of Ashland's Hanson Howard Gallery. "So many people can relate to his work. It is really beautiful," said Howard, who has nominated artists selected in the past but never a photographer.

Winston will take 10 to 12 framed pieces to Salem for the display. The photographer publishes a weekly blog, "The Winston Eye," featuring some of his latest images.

The blog's opening page is mostly nature shots. A second part, "Winston Unleashed," includes people, moments and the man-made. His show will feature prints from the latter category. "I was tuned in "… to people on the street in offbeat moments," Winston says of his early shooting, which was influenced by Philadelphia photographer George Krause. That genre remains a favorite.

Winston is still in the process of choosing photos for the showing in Salem. He is considering a photo called "Jockey and Son," a shot of a father and his child who were waiting in the stables before a race at Grants Pass Downs, and "Semi Sandwich," a shot of a truck ahead and another in a rearview mirror while traveling on a wet Interstate 5.

Winston focused on photography when he got an art degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He's worked in the medium most of his life, although he was a school teacher from 1967 to 1973.

Pursuing photography requires self-discipline, he says. In college, he always had assignments for classes.

"I realized right away I had to set assignments, so I'd push myself," he said, adding that he usually shoots two or three times per week.

From the mid-1970s to the early '80s, Winston sold his work at arts and crafts shows from Maine to Florida while living in Philadelphia. For a few years he supplied photos for offices of IBM and other corporations.

Never a fan of darkroom work with its chemicals and odor, he began to explore digital photography in 1985. Most of the work he sold previously was in color and printed by others.

"It was satisfactory, but I didn't have much control," he said.

Being able to do digital manipulation changed all that.

"It blew the lid off the creativity," said Winston, who moved to Ashland in 2004 and Talent in 2009.

"I think I've done more work out here, partly because it is digital," said Winston. "When I was shooting film, if I ran out of money, I just quit shooting."

Quicker access to "a lot of cool places" nearby has also boosted his output. In Philadelphia, it would take more time to get to interesting locations. He likes to shoot in fog, and there's plenty of that here, he notes.

Winston is best known for his shot of a bare maple tree in a snow-covered field with a zigzagging fence going around it. More than 300,000 posters of the shot, "Solitude," have been sold.

"It's taken on a life of its own," said Winston. "It put me on the map in terms of recognition."